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Education & Research

The College of Medicine is the largest component of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and is at the center of OU Medicine. Our mission is leading health care - in education, research and patient care.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Overview

Symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) including abdominal pain are due to abnormalities in visceral sensation, characterized by increased awareness of visceral stimuli. The worsening of IBS symptoms by stress and anxiety suggest a link between cognitive and peripheral autonomic activity.

In the laboratory of Dr. Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld she has discovered a link between anxiety and visceral sensitivity by showing that rats predisposed to heightened levels of anxiety display a hypersensitive colon. Moreover stereotaxic administration of glucocorticoids to the amygdala increases anxiety coupled with a hypersensitive colon. Her current research builds upon an important observation that emotional states influence sensory processing and in IBS life stress and negative emotions worsen primary symptomatology. Taken together the studies in will enhance our understanding of brain-gut pathways involved in the regulation of gastrointestinal function.

Investigation of the mechanisms by which corticosterone acts at the level of the central nervous system (CNS) to regulate visceral sensitivity and establish whether stereotaxic placement of glucocorticoids on the amygdala modulates activity in specific CNS structures interposed between the amygdala and the spinal cord.

Investigating the mechanisms of visceral organ cross-talk

An in vivo and in vitro investigation of the mechanisms responsible for post-inflammatory visceral hypersensitivity

Investigating new treatments for gastrointestinal disorders

In summary: Dr. Greenwood-Van Meerveld's major research interest focuses on communication between the brain and the gut. She is currently principal investigator (PI) on two major VA grants and multiple industry-sponsored projects. She is also co-PI of an NIH P20 grant to investigate visceral organ cross-talk.